Berghaus-News Issue 53

Berghaus-News Issue

Issue53 | August / September 2016 BERGHAUSNEWS Traffic Technology • Mobile Crash Barriers 02 03 04 Contents at a glance • Save the date: DeuSAT 2017 in Cologne • Many thanks for visiting us in Amsterdam • New edition: Sign Scout, your practical aid • Berghaus mobile traffic light defuses accident black spot – even without roadworks • Multiple protection for ProTec 120: splashproof visual screen and security element • Trainee road maintenance workers visit AVS Overath • BMVI: structural width replaces planningrelevant width • New T3/W1 crash barrier ProTec 121 in use Well-deserving AVS employee takes retirement New: red countdown display now vehicle-actuated Mobile traffic lights take care of our safety at roadworks with a changed road layout. The construction work often means that only a narrow carriageway remains available to road users. Traffic flowing in each direction has to be guided safely through the roadworks at reduced speed. The narrower lane width means that unfortunately, waiting times at the traffic lights are almost inevitable, even with vehicle-actuated control and green phase extension. Here it is important for road users to know how long the red phase will last so that they will keep faith in the mobile traffic light system. Those who presume that a longer wait means the traffic lights have failed and simply drive into the blocked bottleneck against the red light will put themselves and others at risk! We have therefore added a revolutionary new development to our popular red countdown display, which in the past only worked in fixed phase mode. Now for the first time, the waiting time can also be displayed as an absolute innovation for vehicle-actuated control of alternating one-way traffic, T-junctions and crossroads. Even in a variable green phase extension, road users will see directly at the Berghaus traffic light how long they have to wait for the next green phase. The red countdown display VA is fitted next to the red light as a clear indication that it refers to the red phase. It is controlled directly by the mobile Berghaus traffic light. On request, the three-digit red LED display can be blanked out for the last five seconds of the red phase so that road users focus on the red light again without being provoked into making a racing start. The vehicle-actuated red countdown display ensures that road users are kept up-to-date about the red phase and are much more willing to wait. ProTec-Tor 120 – rapid access for emergency services Both CEOs Axel Keller (on the left) and Andreas Schwingeler wished Gabriele Brussog all the best for her well-deserved retirement. At the end of April, colleagues in the AVS Overath branch in Euskirchen said goodbye to their long-standing co-worker Gabriele Brussog who retired after a working life covering more than 40 years. For 15 years, Ms Brussog was the heart and soul in the secretariat of the Euskirchen branch in the field traffic safety, with her kind, motherly manner making her extremely popular with the colleagues. It was with a sumptuous, extended breakfast brunch that she said goodbye to her colleagues on her last day at work. The whole AVS team wishes her all the best for this new season in her life, with plenty of time for travelling, carnival and hobbies! Constanze Schorr was introduced and welcomed as her direct successor in the Euskirchen AVS team. Mobile road restraint systems at roadworks, such as our narrow, high-containment ProTec family of crash barriers, prevent users from leaving the carriageway and heading into oncoming traffic and make it essentially safer to work on site. To keep vehicles moving at roadworks, it may be necessary to take the traffic through a lane onto the oncoming carriageway because the actual directional carriageway is being resurfaced. To keep the contraflow traffic reliably separated, the individual crash barrier elements are connected by force-fit transitions and, depending on the requirements and extent of the roadworks, they will often stretch over several kilometres. But in an emergency, it is frequently necessary to provide rapid access to the scene of an accident for the fire brigade, emergency services and police particularly in such special traffic flow areas in order to provide effective help and assistance even in the confined roadworks situation. The ProTec-Tor 120 – rapid access for emergency services allows for the mobile crash barrier to be opened quickly and easily without needing any tools. Striking visual signs and a different pattern for the side reflectors make the ProTec-Tor clearly visible for the emergency services. The rapid access point can also be marked with a number or mileage indication. Brief instructions on the element explain how to loosen the force-fit transition by hand in five easy steps so that the mobile crash barrier opens up easily like two large wing gates, with crank support. The wing gates run on extendible rollers with a hinged opening of up to 180° in either direction. The hinge system even permits space-saving positioning of the opened ProTec-Tor elements parallel to the line of crash barriers. In just a few seconds, this creates a large rapid access point for emergency services in the mobile crash barrier, without needing any tools.